The gentleman held up a deprecating hand, but the smile that was on his face more than neutralized his suggestion.
“Nay, Mr. Garrick, I am but a simple country gentleman,” he cried. “To be sure, I have been singled out more than once for favours that might have turned the head of an ordinary mortal—one of them had a fortune and was the toast of the district; another——”
“If you will excuse me, gentlemen, the Miss Burneys and myself will take our leave of you: we have household matters in our hands,” said Mrs. Burney, making a sign to Fanny and her sister, and going toward the door.
“Have I said too much, madam? If so, I pray of you to keep my secret,” cried the visitor. “The truth is that I have confidence in the advice of Dr. Burney as a man of the world.”
“I fear that to be a man of the world is to be of the flesh and the devil as well,” said Dr. Burney.
“Augmented qualifications for giving advice on an affair of the Wells,” said Garrick slyly to the naval lieutenant.
“You will not forget, Doctor, that Mr. Thrale's carriage is appointed to call for you within the hour,” said Mrs. Burney over her shoulder as she left the room.
Fanny and her sister were able to restrain themselves for the few minutes necessary to fly up the narrow stairs, but the droll glance that Mr. Garrick had given them as they followed their mother, wellnigh made them disgrace themselves by bursting out within the hearing of their father's visitor. But when they reached the parlour at the head of the stairs and had thrown themselves in a paroxysm of laughter on the sofa, Mrs. Burney reproved them with some gravity.
“This is an instance, if one were needed, of the unsettling influence of Mr. Garrick,” she said. “He has plainly been making a fool of that conceited gentleman, and it seems quite likely that he will persuade your father to back him up.”
“I do not think that Mr. Garrick could improve greatly upon Nature's handiwork in regard to that poor Mr. Kendal,” said Fanny. “But what would life be without Mr. Garrick?”